This study examined the nature and process of change among five bilingual special education teachers as they attempted to modify existing instructional practices. Three factors affected the change process: (a) The more special education training in the teachers' background, the stronger their reductionist orientation; (b) change involves shifts in instructional practices and shifts in beliefs, and they do not automatically go hand in hand; and (c) change is most facilitated at the beginning stages of collaboration by including practicing members of the teachers' occupational community as agents of change.
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